Does wedding confetti stain? The slightly unhelpful answer is yes and no, because it depends enormously on what you are actually throwing and where you have bought it from. Genuine, untreated natural flower petals shouldn't stain your wedding dress, your guests or your venue, but something being advertised as ‘natural’, ‘eco-friendly’ or ‘biodegradable’ doesn't necessarily tell you everything about how it has been produced.

Paints, dyes and other colourings can make things a little more complicated. So, before 100 of your closest friends and family throw handfuls of confetti over your lovely white wedding dress, it is worth knowing exactly what you are buying.

Does natural petal confetti stain?

Natural, untreated flower petal confetti shouldn't stain. At Ezra's Confetti, we don't use paints, dyes or stains on any of the petals that go into our natural wedding confetti. We work with UK flower growers as well as repurposing suitable flowers from wholesalers, before carefully processing and drying the flowers to turn them into biodegradable petal confetti.

The important word here is natural. We work with the colours that Mother Nature gives us rather than taking a white flower, dipping it in blue dye and pretending that it grew that way! This means that our natural petal confetti is dye-free, paint-free and stain-free, and we have tested it extensively as well as supplying confetti for thousands of weddings without staining issues. Considering that wedding confetti ends up on dresses, suits, hair, hands, venue floors, gardens and pretty much everywhere else, we think that is rather important.

Why can some wedding confetti stain?

This is where it is important to look beyond words such as biodegradable. There is an enormous amount of wedding confetti available online, particularly through large marketplaces, and some of it will be absolutely fine. However, you need to know what you are actually buying rather than assuming that every product described in a particular way has been produced using the same processes.

Unfortunately, some wedding venues have experienced problems with products that couples believed were suitable but which subsequently left colour or marks behind. Petals can be painted or dyed to achieve particular colours, so something that looks like a natural flower petal isn't necessarily an untreated, naturally coloured petal. If you are going to throw something over an expensive white dress, around a historic wedding venue and into the surrounding environment, it seems reasonable to want to know exactly what is in it.

Why are some wedding venues so strict about confetti?

Previous experiences are one of the reasons that wedding venues have become increasingly careful about their confetti policies. Some now specify that couples can only use natural petals, while others go further and recommend particular suppliers or require confetti to meet specific requirements.

This is understandable. If a venue has previously had problems with stained paving, brickwork or other surfaces following a confetti throw, it is naturally going to be more cautious when the next couple asks what they can use.

We have worked directly with wedding venues to explain where our flowers come from, how they are processed and, importantly, what does and doesn't go into our confetti. This transparency is one of the reasons that Ezra's Confetti now appears on the recommended supplier lists of hundreds of wedding venues. Rather than simply telling them that our confetti is natural, we can explain the process behind it and exactly what they are allowing to be thrown around their venue.

How can you tell whether petal confetti has been dyed?

Sometimes it will be obvious and clearly advertised, while other times it may be more difficult to tell. There are, however, certain colours that should make you think about how the petals have achieved that shade.

Blue is a particularly good example. There simply aren't huge quantities of naturally blue flowers available to turn into confetti, because unfortunately the natural world doesn't conveniently produce every possible wedding colour in exactly the shade we would like! Burnt oranges and some other very specific shades can present similar difficulties, which is why some businesses choose to dye petals to achieve them.

There isn't necessarily anything wrong with a business selling dyed petals if this is clearly explained, but it is something that you need to know about, particularly if your venue has specified natural, undyed petal confetti. At Ezra's, we don't dye petals to achieve a particular colour. If Mother Nature doesn't give it to us, we don't artificially create it.

What does this mean when matching your wedding colours?

The obvious consequence of not using dyes is that we can't always promise an exact colour match. If, for example, you have a very specific blue within your wedding colour palette, we will get as close to it as we naturally can, but we may recommend combining the blue tones that are available with another base colour rather than promising an entire mix in a shade that simply doesn't exist naturally in sufficient quantities.

The same applies if you show us your bridal bouquet and ask us to create confetti in exactly the same colours. We will always try to complement it as closely as possible, but some flowers used within wedding bouquets are themselves professionally dyed. If that is the case, we aren't going to dye our confetti simply to reproduce the exact shade.

In reality, this doesn't cause the problems that couples sometimes imagine it will. We can work with the overall colour palette, introduce complementary shades and create a mix that works beautifully alongside your other wedding colours. For us, doing this using naturally occurring colours is more important than achieving an absolutely perfect colour match.

How do we make sure dyed flowers don't get into our confetti?

We work closely with our flower suppliers, so they know exactly what we are looking for. However, we also deal with large quantities of flowers and have our own quality assurance processes to make sure that anything unsuitable doesn't accidentally end up within your confetti.

If a dyed or otherwise unsuitable flower does find its way to us, it simply isn't used for confetti. That doesn't necessarily mean it needs to be wasted; we might use it to experiment with a resin design, create some social media content or try out another idea. However, we don't simply put every flower that arrives into the dryers and hope for the best. The flowers that become Ezra's Confetti are checked because we need to know what we are sending out to couples and, increasingly, to venues that have specifically recommended us.

Does biodegradable paper confetti stain?

We also offer biodegradable paper shapes as an optional addition to our natural petal confetti, and these have been tested for staining too. We don't offer paper as our main confetti product, but some couples like to include hearts or other shapes alongside their natural petals to add another colour, shape or texture to the mix.

As always, it is worth checking with your wedding venue before adding biodegradable paper. Some venues are perfectly happy with it, while others specify that only natural petals can be thrown. If your venue does permit it, our biodegradable paper additions give you the option of introducing those extra shapes and colours without worrying about them staining your wedding clothes.

What about biodegradable glitter?

Our biodegradable glitter has also been tested and doesn't stain. It will, however, get everywhere because, well, it's glitter! You may find it on your hands, clothes and in places that you didn't realise were physically possible several hours later, but it will wash away rather than leaving coloured stains behind.

This is another example of why we are careful about what we add to our confetti mixes. Whether it is a natural petal, biodegradable paper addition or glitter, we want to be happy with what couples are going to be throwing over themselves, their guests and their wedding venue.

What about animals and the surrounding environment?

This is another reason that we are so particular about what goes into our natural petal confetti. After an outdoor confetti throw, not every petal is going to be picked up, and that is rather the point of using natural biodegradable petals. Some will end up on the grass, others will blow into flower beds, and wildlife may come into contact with them.

There is also the rather more predictable possibility of a small child throwing confetti, getting it all over their hands and then immediately eating something without giving it a second thought! In all of these situations, we don't want unnecessary paints, dyes or stains involved. Knowing what has gone into the confetti therefore matters for more than simply protecting the wedding dress.

So, will wedding confetti stain my dress?

If you are buying genuine, untreated natural petal confetti from a reputable supplier, staining shouldn't be something that you need to worry about. However, we wouldn't assume that every product labelled natural, eco-friendly or biodegradable is necessarily identical.

Instead, ask what you are actually buying. Have the petals been dyed or painted? Have artificial colourings been used? Has the confetti been tested? And, importantly, does it meet the requirements that your wedding venue has set?

At Ezra's Confetti, we deliberately work with the colours that nature gives us. We don't paint, dye or stain our natural petals, and anything that doesn't meet our standards doesn't make it into your confetti mix. Occasionally, this means telling a couple that we can't naturally create the exact shade that they originally had in mind, but we're absolutely fine with that. We'd much rather create beautiful natural petal confetti that you can confidently throw over your wedding dress.

Preferably up and over, of course, rather than directly at your face.